National Treasure: My Story
by rottieluv77
Summary: This is just a story I wrote about how the story would be if I added myself and my best friend in it. The prologue and epilogue are dialogue between my fictional daughter, Chloe and a few other characters, including me. This is supposed to be me telling the story to her, although I call the characters in the story part as I would actually call them. Hope you like it! My first story
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_Present Day_

"Tell me another story Mommy! Tell me, tell me, tell me!" little Chloe screamed as I tried to tuck her in for bed. Though already eight, she still loved for me to tell her stories!

"Alright," I finally said caving in, "I'll tell you one more. Have I ever told you the story about the treasure adventure I had when I was 23?"

"Treasure?!"

"Would you like me to tell you that story?"

"Yes, Mommy yes!"

"Well once upon a time…"


	2. The Beginning of an Adventure

**Chapter 1: The Beginning of an Adventure**

_Fourteen Years Ago_

When I was 21; shortly after I graduated college, I had gotten an email from the leader of a small village in northern Alaska. He wanted to have a dog sled team, since they couldn't really afford any motorized vehicle. The problem was, he couldn't train the dogs! He had gotten eight little puppies, six Alaskan Malamutes and two Siberian Huskies, and he had raised them, and gotten them used to the harnesses, and pulling something behind themselves as individuals. However, when he'd get the team together, and there would be complete chaos! There was no team work with these dogs, and this village leader needed someone to train these dogs how to be a team. I accepted, and soon, I was on a plane heading for Alaska.

I had my work cut out for me upon arriving in Alaska. These dogs, though extremely loyal to the village leader, Lucas, were extremely aggressive to each other. Not only did I have to teach them how to pull together, in the same direction, and to the sled driver's commands, but I also had to get these dogs to decently like each other. From that point forward, I devoted myself to the six month project of getting these dogs to become the sled dogs Lucas bought them for.

I finally completed the task. During this six month project, the female husky, Shadow, had become pregnant and had given birth to the alpha dog, a black malamute named Thunder's puppies. She had eight puppies, and as a reward, Lucas allowed me to have the puppies to let me make a dog sled team of my own. Lucas found me a house to live in for the next two years, and offered to pay me to train the village people's dogs. I most certainly agreed

A year and a half passes. I had just turned 23, and my dog sled team of eight husky-malamutes was going strong. One day, I decided to take the dogs out for a sled run out in the more barren part of the Alaskan wilderness. All of a sudden, I came across a snow covered, wooden ship. I had been to this part of the wilderness, and had never seen this ship before. A little ways beyond the ship, I noticed two large snow mobiles. I had the dogs move in closer, to investigate this unknown ship. When I was within 50 feet of this ship, I stopped the dogs, and went in to explore. I saw what appeared to be a secret set of stairs leading to a lower part of the ship. The doors to this secret chamber were covered in icicles. Creeping down there, I was confronted by gunshots. Startled, I ducked behind some boxes at the side of an open door. Then suddenly, two men race out of the door. One of the men, who appeared bald, ran out yelling. The other, a blonde, looked back into some room, and I peeked into the door from behind the boxes. Suddenly, a gust of fire blew towards the door, and the man slammed the door and locked it, shouting, "Fool!" But before the door was shut, I saw two men trying to get out of this ship another way; the fire blazing all around them. _Oh no_, I thought as I smelled gunpowder. I obviously knew what this meant, and I ran out of the ship to save myself. I felt pity for the two men trapped inside, figuring that there was no hope for them. Right as I thought I should go back in to help them, the ship explodes; wood fragments and snow flying everywhere. Once all the debris has fallen, I looked up. Smoke is slowly rising. The ship was in ruins, certain areas continuing to burn from the fire. I sat and watched with the dogs for a little bit, to see if there was any chance the two men lived. With no sign of them, I got ready to head back home. Just as I was about to say "mush", two figures appear from the rubble of the ship. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the two men had survived. They appeared to be heading towards the direction of the village, so I cautiously had the dogs pull in.

"Hey, who are you guys?" I asked them.

"May I ask who y-"

"I'm Ben Gates," said the taller guy after interrupting the other, "and this is my computer assistant, Riley Poole."

"Nice meeting you both," I said shaking both of their hands, "My name is Aviana Jennison. Where are you two headed?"

"Some village of coldness," Riley said.

"Or," started Ben, giving a scornful look at Riley, "we're just heading to the nearest village for some food and shelter before we head back to D.C."

"I can take you to my village," I said, "just hop aboard my sled. My dogs and I would love to take you gentlemen for a ride!"

"I think I'll p-"

"We'd love that," said Ben, once again interrupting Riley.

"I guess my opinion doesn't count," muttered Riley.

As we headed to the village, I asked Ben and Riley what brought them here to that ship. They preceded to tell me about the legend of a treasure that was thousands of years old. It had been fought over by many, many different kingdoms, empires, and dynasties. Every time it changed hands, it grew even larger than before. Then one day however, it vanished. That is, until knights from the First Crusade found the treasure underneath Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. They believed it was too great for any one man to own. So they smuggled it out of Europe to the New World, and formed the Freemasons. Then, at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the treasure was hidden again to keep it safe from the British. At this point, the Freemasons included Founding Fathers such as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. The Masons devised a series of clues to show where to find this treasure. They had all been lost except one, which was given to a great-great grandfather of Ben by Charles Carroll.

"The clue said, 'The secret lies with Charlotte,'" Ben explained upon arriving at my house. "The ship that we found was called the Charlotte. We did find a pipe in there that had another clue on it."

"Where will this next clue lead you?" I asked.

"Washington D.C." Ben said.

"We'll need to find a way to get a flight there," muttered Riley.

"Well…I do know where an airport is. I could take you there on one condition," I said.

"What?" asked Riley.

"If you guys take me with you. I could help on your treasure hunt! Please let me come!"

"Well, I guess you cou-"

"What are you going to do with the dogs?" asked Riley interrupting Ben.

"Well…I'd hate to part with them, but I'd give them back to the village leader."

"Ok…." started Riley.

"I'll ask Lucas if he can give us a ride to the village charter airport in the morning," I said.

"Won't we have to buy a ticket?" asked Riley.

"I know somebody who can give us a ride," I said. "I trained a group of sled dogs for a charter pilot that lives in the village. He said he'd be willing to give me a flight any time, so I'm sure he would give us a ride to D.C."

"What time will we be leaving in the morning?" asked Ben.

"Let me call Lucas and ask him when he can take us to the airport," I said.

"Who is Lucas?" asked Riley.

"The village leader," Ben replied.

"Well aren't you smart," muttered Riley.

So the next day, I was flying towards my biggest adventure yet. Heading back to Washington D.C. seemed to be no big deal for me. I lived in the area for the first six years of my life. However, I had no idea what was in store upon landing.


	3. The Map's on What?

**Chapter 2: The Map's on _What_?**

Upon arriving in Washington D.C., I tentively asked what the next clue led to. I knew it lead to D.C., but I didn't know where in D.C. This place was filled to the brim with memorials, museums, and government buildings. The clue could lead anywhere.

"Umm…the clue is to a map," said Ben.

"What's the map on?" I asked.

"Well…the Declaration of Independence."

"Umm…what?"

"Yeah," said Riley, "and you know that really mean dude, Ian, that locked us in that ship?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Well, he is planning on stealing the Declaration. We're going to have to stop him. But how?"

"We'll have to talk to people," said Ben, "talk to the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and, if all else fails, someone in charge at the National Archives."

"Well," I said, "let's start with the Department of Homeland Security."

So we headed over to the Department of Homeland Security. While they went to talk to the head of Homeland Security, I sat and waited on a bench across the street. While waiting, my phone randomly started ringing. It was my best friend; Hannah.

"Hey!" I answered.

"Why haven't you been answering your house phone?!" Hannah yelled over the phone.

"I didn't tell you that I'm moving from Alaska?"

"NO!"

"I knew I forgot to tell someone! I have most of my stuff headed over to Mom's or storage for now."

"Where are you now?"

"Washington D.C."

"I'm on my way. I'll call you when I'm getting close to ask what hotel you're in." And before I could say anything else, Hannah hung up. Right after I got off the phone with her, Ben and Riley came out from the Department of Homeland Security building.

"What did they say?"

"They didn't believe us," Riley explained. "They just went on how safe the Declaration was and how there couldn't possibly be a treasure map on the back."

"Let's head to the FBI building before it closes," Ben said. "We'll have to do the Archives in the morning."

"Ok," I replied while walking. "I do have something I need to tell you guys."

"What?" Ben and Riley asked in unison.

"My best friend called today. She'll be driving up from Florida. And she will also be joining us."

"Are you kid-"

"That will be fine," Ben replied, interrupting Riley. "When will she get here and where will she be staying?"

"She should probably arrive at around sometime tomorrow afternoon. And I guess we'll just get a hotel together."

Ben thought for a moment upon arriving at the FBI building, "No, you both can stay at my place." I thanked Ben as they headed inside. Once again, I was in charge of sitting and waiting for Ben and Riley to come out. About an hour after they left me, they came back out with the same luck they had at the Department of Homeland Security.

"Let's hope we have better luck at the Archives tomorrow," Riley said. "I guess we should just head back to the apartment."

So with that, we headed back to Ben's apartment with an unsuccessful day behind us. The next day; after setting up an air mattress in the living room for Hannah, we headed out to the National Archives. This time, I was able to explore the Archives while they went and talked to the archivist. It was amazing to think that there could be a treasure map on one of the most important documents in our country.

"Hey, we're back!" Riley said from behind me.

"Hey! How did it go?"

"Well," Riley said, "it was a girl this time. She was hot too! But anyway, she kind of bit into it a little, but she assured us that the Declaration could not possibly be stolen and again, there couldn't possibly be a map on the back. She also mentioned Big Foot taking the pipe with the engraving that led us here."

"Oh! The one you found on the ship?"

"Yes."

"One hundred and eighty years of searching and I'm three feet away," Ben said quietly while staring at the Declaration. Looking at both of us he said, "Of all the ideas that became the United States, there's a line here that's at the heart of all the others. 'But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and provide new Guards for their future security.' People don't talk that way anymore."

"Beautiful," Riley said, "I have no idea what you just said." I personally nodded in agreement.

"It means," Ben replied, "that if there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action." He paused before he muttered, "I'm going to steal it."

Riley and I look at each other in disbelief and said in unison, "What?"

"I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence," Ben replied before walking away.

"Uh, Ben!" Riley said as we both began to chase after Ben.


	4. This Might Be Possible

**Chapter 3: This Might Be Possible**

We all headed over to the Lincoln Memorial after that episode. Ben and Riley headed up to the top of the memorial, while I stayed down at the bottom. I had gotten a call from Hannah, and I waited for her there. After about fifteen minutes, I saw her run straight up to me.

"Hey!" she said as she hugged me, "I haven't seen you in so long! How have you been?"

"I've been good," I said, "It's so good to see you!"

"You as well! So tell me, what are you doing in D.C.? Why did you leave Alaska?" And that's where the long explanation came. I told her how I found these two treasure hunters stranded after an old ship they found blew up. I told her that I took them back to the village, and took care of them. They had come back to D.C. to stop their ex-teammate from stealing the Declaration of Independence.

"So far we have been unsuccessful," I said. "Ben has an idea but-"

"We're headed to the Library of Congress," Riley said coming down from the memorial. "I have to prove to Ben that he cannot steal the Declaration of Independence."

"He's going to steal the Declaration of Independence!?" Hannah inquired in a slight furious tone.

"That's his big plan," I said rubbing my forehead. So off we were to the Library of Congress.

"Ok Ben, pay attention," Riley began his lecture, "I've brought you to the Library of Congress. Why? Because it is the biggest library in the world. Over a million books and they're all saying the exact same thing: 'Listen to Riley."" Ben perked his head up. "What we have here, my friend, is an entire layout of the Archives. Short of builders' blueprints. You've got construction orders, phone lines, water and sewage. It's all here. Now, when the Declaration is on display, it is surrounded by guards and video monitors and little families from Iowa and little kids on their eighth-grade field trip. And beneath an inch of bulletproof glass is an army of sensors and heat monitors that will go off if someone gets too close with a high fever. Now, when it's not on display, it is lowered into a four-foot-thick, concrete, steel-plated vault that happens to be equipped with an electronic combination lock and biometric access-denial systems."

"You know," Ben began, "Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly 1,000 times to develop the carbonized cotton-thread filament for the incandescent light bulb."

"Edison?"

"Yeah, when asked about it he said, 'I didn't fail. I found 1,000 ways how not to make a light bulb.' But he needed to find only one way to make it work." Turning a few pages in the Archive book, Ben slammed it in front of Riley and said, "The Preservation Room. Go ahead. Enjoy." Giving Riley a minute to look over the book, Ben continued, "Do you know what the Preservation Room is for?"

"Delicious jams and jellies?"

"No. That's where they clean, repair, and maintain all the documents and the storage housings when they're not on display or in the vault. Now, when the case needs work they take it out of the vault, directly across the hall and into the Preservation Room. The best time for us, or Ian, to steal it would be during the Gala this weekend when the guards are distracted by the VIP's upstairs. But we'll make our way to the Preservation Room, where there's much less security."

Riley sat and thought for a moment; flipping through books and muttering to himself. Finally he looked up and said, "This might be possible."

"It might," Ben said. He turned to us and asked, "Are you two going to be in on this?"

"Of course!" Hannah said rather excitedly.

"What happened to, 'You can't steal the Declaration, it's too dangerous,'?" I mentioned to her.

"It's too dangerous for you. However, we're both included on this adventure. We're, therefore, going."

"Fine by me!"


	5. Stealing the Declaration

**Chapter 4: Stealing the Declaration**

After the episode at the Library of Congress, we all set off to get ready for this major crime. In order to steal it before Ian, we had to be quick enough, and cunning enough to out whit him. That would be the tricky part.

We weren't used for much. Riley covered all of the technical part (security cameras, figuring out passwords, etc.). Ben got some formulas ready. We just did anything they were too busy to do…which meant we did a lot of cooking!

It wasn't long before Friday night came. We all got hopped in the van and headed to the Archives. Riley stayed in the van, keeping in contact with Ben. Ben went in and actually did the crime. Our job was to walk around the general area; while acting that we had lost our dog, and keep an eye out for Ian. We both had small hearing devices in our ears so we could hear what Riley and Ben were saying, but if we needed to tell Riley something, we had walkie talkies.

It wasn't long after Ben headed inside that we saw a van pull up and park on the other side of the street. When several men, one definitely fitting the description of Ian, began falling down into some underground system, I knew it was time to alert Riley.

"Code gray, code gray," I said to Riley.

"He's here?"

"Yes."

"How did he get in?"

"They went underneath their van into some random underground system. I don't know where that leads."

"Let me tell Ben everything. Head back to the van."

"Ok." So we began to walk back to the van. When we got in I asked Riley, "Where is Ben now?"

"Well here," Riley said as he turned the computer towards us, "He's in the Preservation Room." He turned to the computer and said hello to Ben.

"Hey Ben!" Hannah and I said into Riley's ear piece.

"Hey you two!" Ben replied, "You guys made it back to the van ok I take it?"

"We have indeed," Hannah said.

"Great. I'll hopefully be out soon. I just need to get these screws out of the case." And as he said that, the screen went blank and only showed static.

"I lost my feed!" Riley said franticly.

"What?!" Ben replied.

"I lost my feed, Ben! I don't know where anyone is! I have nothing! Ben, I have nothing! Get out of there! Get out of there now!"

"I'm taking the whole thing. I'll get it out in the elevator."

"What are you talking about?" Riley said confused. Once it hits Riley what Ben is talking about he asks, "Is it heavy?" Ben doesn't reply as he is most likely extremely stressed about something going wrong to our plan. I thought I heard a soft, muffled "Gates" before we began to hear gunfire.

"What's that?" Riley asked as soon as the noise began. "Who's shooting?" Then suddenly, it all became silent. "Are you still there?" Riley asked. "Ben?"

"I'm in the elevator," Ben finally replied. "Ian's indeed here. He was the one shooting."

"I hate that guy," Riley stated. We were given instructions by Ben to go ahead and get everything secured and the van ready to go. We anxiously waited for Ben to get out of the Archives. "Where are you, Ben?" Riley began to mutter in an anxious tone while tapping the wheel of the van.

"Stop talking," we heard Ben suddenly say through his ear piece. "Start the van."

As Riley begins to do what he's told, he looks up and said, "Uh, Ben, th-the mean Declaration lady is behind you."

"Hey," the lady (who Riley explains is Dr. Abigail Chase) said to Ben.

"Oh it's you," Ben says after closing the back of the van. "Hello."

"Mr. Brown, what is going on?" Dr. Chase asked, referring to the false name Ben gave her previously. Looking at the Declaration, she continued, "What is that?"

"It's a souvenir."

"Really?"

"Stop chatting and get in the van," Riley said through gritted teeth. Ben and Dr. Chase continued to chat when suddenly, alarms began to go off. Dr. Chase yells at Ben, and then took the Declaration from Ben, and called for security. Ben hopped into the van.

"We can't just let her go!" Riley exclaimed.

"We can," Ben insisted, "Go!" However, as we began to go, Ian's van begins to pull up next to Dr. Chase. "Wait no," Ben said, "hold it!" And as he said that, Ian's men grabbed Dr. Chase and threw her into their van. "Bad, bad, bad!" Ben jumped out of the van and started to run toward Ian's van. Just before he turned around the front of the van, Ian's men began shooting. The driver side window shattered, the bullets dented the van, and Ben immediately hopped back in. Riley slammed on the gas and we began to chase after Ian.

Midway through this chase, Riley asked, "Once we catch them, what are we going to do?"

"I'm working on it," Ben replied. We took a right, when all of a sudden, the back door of Ian's van flies open, Dr. Chase hanging on to the left door for dear life, with the Declaration. She begins yelling for help as Ben opens the right door of our van. "Get me next to her!" he yells at Riley. The door swung back, and Ian grabbed the Declaration from Dr. Chase. Once the door swung back in our direction, Ben yelled, "Abigail!" as he tried to grab a hold of her and pull her into the safety of our van. After only being shot at a few times, and a few windows shattered, we successfully got Dr. Chase (who Hannah and I called Abigail now) into our van and shut the door.


	6. After the Chase

**Chapter 5: After the Chase**

"Are you alright?" Ben asked Abigail.

"No!" Abigail replied. "Those lunatics-"

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"You are all lunatics!"

"Are you hungry?"

"What?"

"Are you all right!?"

"Still a little on edge from being shot at, but I'll be ok," Riley replied, "Thanks for asking."

"Yeah, well, I'm not all right!" Abigail said. "Those men have the Declaration of Independence!"

"She lost it!?" Riley, Hannah, and I all said in unison.

"They don't have it," Ben said unscrewing a cylinder container. "See? Ok? Now could you please stop shouting?"

"Give me that!" Abigail said reaching for the actual Declaration.

"You're still shouting," Ben began, "and it's really starting to annoy. You'd do well, Dr. Chase, to be a little bit more civilized in this instance."

"If this is the real one," Abigail asked Ben, "what did they get?"

"A souvenir. I thought it would be a good idea to have a duplicate. Turns out, I was right."

"Genius," Riley said.

"Who were those men?" Abigail asked.

"Just the guys I warned you were going to steal the Declaration," Ben replied.

"And you didn't believe us!" Riley chimed in.

"We did the only thing to keep it safe," Ben finished.

I thought I heard Abigail swear under her breath as she again shouted, "Give me that!"

"You know something?" Ben began. "You're shouting again."

"Pretty sure she was swearing too," Riley commented.

"Well, we probably deserved that," Ben stated.

Abigail then persisted to explain to Ben that there wasn't a treasure map on the back of the Declaration. Shaking the document's container, Ben assured her that it wouldn't get taken from him either.

"I leveled with you one hundred percent," Ben stated, "everything I told you was the truth."

"I want that document Mr. Brown," Abigail insisted.

"Ok," Ben began, "my name's not Brown. It's Gates. I leveled with you ninety-eight percent."

"Wait a minute, did you say 'Gates'?" Turning to Riley, she again asked, "Gates!? You're the family with the conspiracy theory about the Founding Fathers?"

"It's not a conspiracy theory," Ben stated in an agitated tone.

"Per say," Riley and Hannah said at the same time.

"Take that back," Abigail said, "you're not liars. You're insane."


	7. The Silence Dogood Letters

**Chapter 6: The Silence Dogood Letters**

We continued driving around Washington D.C. Abigail and Ben continued to argue about running tests on the Declaration; Riley chiming in every once and a while. Ben at one point mentioned that he'd need some "Silence Dogood" letters.

"Don't you just have scans of them at your house?" Riley asked.

"We can't go back to my apartment," Ben said.

"Why?" Hannah and I asked concernedly. After all, a lot of our belongings were at his apartment, including our ID's, that could tie us in with this crime.

"Well…when I had to pay for the Declaration 'souvenirs'," Ben began, "I ended up paying with my credit card."

"A credit card slip!?" Riley asked astonished.

"The lady at the cash register forced me to!"

"Dude you were on the grid! They'll have you're records from forever! They'll have my records from forever!"

"I know. It will only be a matter of minutes before the FBI will be at my front door."

"How are we going to get those letters then?"

Ben thought for a moment. After gazing at the road for a minute, he said, "I have an idea. Riley, take a right." It wasn't long before we ended up at a small grassy area near the Jefferson Memorial. Ben and Riley began discussing how they were going to get these letters. Ben then began to pace.

"You have the original Silence Dogood letters," Abigail began, "Steal those too?

"I have scans of the originals," Ben said, "Quiet please."

"How did you get scans?"

"I know the person who has the originals. Now shush."

"Why do you need them?"

"She really can't shut her mouth can she?" Ben asked towards Riley. Riley just raised his hands in reply. Looking back at Abigail, Ben said, "I'll tell you what. I will let you hold on to this if you promise to shut up. Please!"

"Ben, you know what you have to do," Riley said.

"I know what to do," Ben replied, "I'm just trying to think of anything else we could do."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

"Well not to be a nudge," Riley said ignoring me, "but you do realize how many people we have after us. We probably have our own satellite by now." He paused, "It took you all of two seconds to decide to steal the Declaration of Independence."

"Yeah," Ben began, "but I didn't think I was going to personally have to tell my dad about it." Ben and Riley still were discussing back and forth when suddenly, Abigail hopped up and attempted to run away with the Declaration. "Hey, not cool! Not cool!" Ben said grabbing Abigail.

"Let me go!" Abigail said fighting Ben for the custody of the document's container.

After achieving the Declaration, Ben said, "Ok, you're let go. Go, shoo."

"I'm not going. Not without the Declaration," Abigail stated.

"You're not going with the Declaration," Ben replied.

"Yes, I am. I'm not letting it out of my sight, so I'm going."

"Wait. You're not going with us with the Declaration."

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"Look, if you wanted to leave me behind, you shouldn't have told me where you were going." Ben began to reply, but sighed in defeat.

"Oh goodness," Hannah sighed. I nodded in reply as Riley banged his head against the van's door. Ben then turned to Riley and began to discuss further about what they should do, and how to get that done.

Finally, Ben instructed, "Everyone, get in the van." Hannah, Abigail, and I hopped in the back while Ben hopped in the passenger seat. As Riley started up the van and drove away, Ben began giving him instructions as to how to get to some house, I assumed was Ben's dad's. About twenty minutes later, we arrived at a nice, big, white house.


	8. Mr Patrick

**Chapter 7: Mr. Patrick**

"Looks ok," Riley said upon arriving at Ben's father's house.

"Park a couple of blocks away," Ben replied.

"How long do you think we've got?"

"I'm going to give them a couple of hours at least. I hope."

"What are we going to do about her?" Riley asked pointing back at Abigail. "I've got some duct tape in the back."

"No, that won't be necessary," Ben replied. "She won't be any trouble." Then, turning to Abigail, he asked, "Promise you won't be any trouble?"

"I promise," Abigail said reluctantly.

"See, she's curious."

"What do we do about Aviana and Hannah?" Riley asked.

"We won't be a problem," Hannah said.

"We can stay out of the way," I continued, "and if you need us, we can help with something."

"Ok," Ben said after Riley parked the van. Opening the door and stepping out, Ben turned and said, "Let's go."

We began to walk towards the house. Having to walk on sidewalks, as to not look suspicious, took a little bit longer, but after about five minutes, we were at Ben's father's front door. Ben took a deep, nervous breath, and then rang the doorbell. After a minute or two, an older man with silver hair answered the door. Ben greeted him by saying, "Dad."

"Where's the party?" Ben's father replied.

"Well," Ben started, "I'm in a little trouble."

"Is the blonde pregnant?"

"Why do you say her?"

"The other two are far too young for you."

"Well, even if she is pregnant, are you going to let the woman carrying your grandchild standing out in the cold?"

Abigail whispered to Riley, "I look pregnant?" He shook his head no.

She turned her head to me, and I whispered, "You're fine." Ben's dad gestured for us to come inside.

As we walked in, Ben's dad pulled Ben aside and whispered, "This better not be about that dumb treasure." After we had all walked into the living room, Ben's dad began, "I believe introductions are in order." He stuck out his hand at Riley and said, "I'm Patrick."

"Riley," Riley said shaking Mr. Patrick's hand. Mr. Patrick began to turn to everyone and shook their hands.

"Abigail."

"Hannah."

"Aviana."

Mr. Patrick finally got to Ben, and when he realized that he was about to shake his son's hand, he said, "Oh, I know you!" Hannah and I giggled, and then Mr. Patrick said, "Have a seat and make yourselves comfortable." Pointing at a box of pizza, he said, "There's some pizza. Still warm I think."

"Dad," Ben said, "I need the Silence Dogood letters. Yeah, it's about the treasure."

Mr. Patrick turned to us and said, "He dragged you guys into this nonsense?"

"Literally," Abigail said.

"We volunteered," Riley, Hannah, and I said in unison.

"Well un-volunteer," Mr. Patrick began, "before you waste your life."

"Knock it off, Dad!" Ben said.

"Sure, sure, I'm the family kook! I have a job, a house, health insurance. At least I had your mother, for however brief a time. At least I had you. What do you have? Them?"

"Look, if you just give us the letters, we're gone."

"You disappoint me Ben."

"Well, maybe that's the real Gates family legacy. Sons who disappoint their fathers."

"This is getting heated," I whispered to Hannah. She nodded in reply.

"Get out," Mr. Patrick said, "take your troubles with you."

Ben paused for a little bit. Then he took a breath and said, "I found the Charlotte."

Mr. Patrick froze. He slowly looked at his son and asked, "The Charlotte? You mean she was a ship?"

"Yeah, she was beautiful. It was amazing, Dad."

"And the treasure?"

"No, no. But we found another clue that led us here."

Mr. Patrick shook his head, "And that will lead you to another clue! And that's all you will ever find is another clue. Don't you get it Ben? I finally figured it out. The legend says that the treasure was buried to keep it from the British. But what really happened was the legend was invented, to keep the British occupied searching for buried treasure. The treasure is a myth."

Ben paused, and said rather passionately, "I refuse to believe that."

"Well, you can believe what you want. You're a grown person. What am I doing? Do what you want, Ben. Do what you want."

"He's probably right," Abigail chimed in, "You don't even know if there is another clue."

"Well," Ben began, "I know of a way we can find out. And we can find out right now."

"How?" Hannah asked.

"Follow me," Ben said and lead us to the dining room.


	9. The Cipher and Key

**Chapter 8: The Cipher and Key**

Upon arriving in the dining room, we proceeded to prepare to do the tests on the Declaration. We grabbed gloves, lemons, and q-tips. After setting down a fresh sheet of plastic wrap over the dining room table, we proceeded to lay out the Declaration for its tests.

As we did our final preparations, Mr. Patrick came by the dining room and commented, "Looks like animal skin. How old is it?"

"At least two hundred years," Ben replied.

"Really? You're sure?"

"Pretty darn!"

"So if this thing is invisible ink," Riley began to ask, "how do we look at it?"

"Throw it in the oven!" Mr. Patrick yelled from the kitchen.

"No!" We all shouted in unison.

"Ferrous sulphate inks can only be brought out with heat," Mr. Patrick informed us.

"Yes, but this…"

"It's very old," Ben said interrupting Abigail, "This is very old, and we can't risk compromising the map."

"You need a reagent!"

"Dad, it's really late. Why don't you get some rest?"

"I'm fine."

Ben sighed. Then, turning his attention towards me, and asked for the lemons. As he began to squeeze lemon juice onto the paper, Abigail grabbed his arm and said, "You can't do that."

"But it has to be done," Ben replied.

"Then someone who is trained to handle antique documents is going to do it."

"Ok."

"Now, if there is a secret message, it'll probably be marked by a symbol in the upper right-hand corner."

"That's right."

Abigail sighed, "I'm so getting fired for this." She took a q-tip and began to rub lemon juice on the upper right-hand corner of the document. After waiting a while, nothing appeared. Abigail looked at Ben with an I-told-you-so look. Ben sighed in defeat.

"I told you," Mr. Patrick said as we all looked at him, "you need heat." Ben and Abigail looked at each other, and then both puffed air onto the document. A little symbol then appeared briefly on the page. Ben and Abigail quickly looked at each other.

"We need more juice," Ben stated.

"We need more heat," Abigail added.

Hannah and I quickly became busy cutting up lemons. Ben rubbed the lemon juice on the back of the document, while Abigail used a blow drier heat the document and bring out a series of numbers. Ben quickly wrote these numbers down, while Riley and I sat puzzled at these numbers. Mr. Patrick watched inquisitively at the action in his dining room.

"That's not a map, is it?" Riley asked.

"More clues," Mr. Patrick ranted, "What a surprise."

"Are those latitudes and longitudes?" Hannah asked.

"That's why we need the Silence Dogood letters," Ben said.

"That's the key?" Abigail asked.

"Yeah," Ben replied, "'The key in Silence undetected.'" Turning to his dad, Ben asked, "Dad, can we have the letters now?"

"Will someone please explain to me what these magic numbers are?" Riley abruptly asked.

"It's an Ottendorf cipher," Abigail stated.

"That's right," Mr. Patrick replied.

"Oh ok," Riley said, "What's an Ottendorf cipher?"

"Just codes," Mr. Patrick answered.

"Each of these three numbers corresponds to a word in a key," Ben said.

"Usually a random book or article," Abigail continued.

"In this case, the Silence Dogood letters," Ben said, "So it's like the page number of the key text, the line on the page, and the letter in that line." He turned to his dad and said, "So Dad, where are the letters?"

"You know, it's just by sheer happenstance," Mr. Patrick began, "that his grandfather..."

"Dad."

"...even found them. They were in an antique desk from the press room..."

"Dad."

"...of The New England Courant. That's a newspaper."

"Dad, where are the letters?"

"I don't have them, son."

Ben paused, and then said, "What?"

"I don't have them."

Ben cleared his throat, trying to take in what he just heard. Then he asked, "Where are they?"

"I donated them to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia," Mr. Patrick answered.

"Time to go," Ben said getting up from his seat.

As we began to clean up our mess, Abigail said, "I still can't believe it. All this time no one knew what was on the back."

"The back of what?" Mr. Patrick said reaching for the Declaration.

"No!" Ben shouted.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! What have you done?!"

"I know."

"This is the Declaration of Independence!"

"Yes," Abigail said, gently taking the document away from Mr. Patrick, "And it's very delicate."

"You stole it?!" Mr. Patrick directed at Ben. Riley immediately pointed his finger at Ben.

"Dad, I can explain, but I don't have time. It was necessary. And you saw the cipher."

"And that will lead to another clue, and that will lead to another clue! There is no treasure! I wasted 30 years of my life. And now you've destroyed yours. And you pulled me into all this."

"Well we can't have that," Ben said. When he saw that we had basically everything packed up and put away, he said, "I need you guys to help me," He grabbed duct tape and a drink, and had Riley help him tie his dad to a chair. Then, he said, "Follow me." We followed him out to the garage, and then he said, "We're taking my dad's car. The van looks to suspicious with the windows shot out and whatnot." He unlocked it and said, "Go ahead and hop in. I have to run in and get something." So we all hopped in and a few minutes later, Ben came back in and we headed off.

"We should also change clothes," Ben said to Abigail about an hour into the trip, "We look a little conspicuous, don't you think?"

"I'd love to go shopping too but we have no money," Riley chimed from his curled up position in the back.

"Here," Ben said while handing Abigail a book, "I took this from his house. He usually keeps a few hundred dollars ticked away in the pages."

"Common Sense," Abigail commented reading the book's title, "How appropriate." Ben gave her a look and Abigail giggled.

"When are we going to get there?" Riley began to rant, "I'm hungry. This car smells weird."

"Oh Lord," I whispered a little too loudly, and everyone began laughing. That is, except for Riley who looked up and shouted, "Hey!" And we began to laugh more. A few hours later we arrived in Philadelphia, and Ben hid the car and we all attempted to fall asleep in the car, planning on figuring out the clue from the cipher and the letters in the morning.


	10. The Clue from the Letters

**Chapter 9: The Clue from the Letters**

Dawn came, and Riley, Hannah, and I headed to the Franklin Institute to get the clue from the letters, while Ben and Abigail went to the store to change clothes. Ben had been worried that, since Ian had the pipe that lead us to the Declaration and the letters, he might have figured out that he needed to go the Franklin Institute. So, to be safe, Riley sent Hannah and me in, since he hadn't seen us before. Since Riley only gave us the line and letter numbers for one letter at a time, so we had to go back in, and go back out for every letter. As we headed out for the last time, I managed to catch Ian out of the corner of my eye. He was talking to one of his men (the bald one from the ship, Shaw). I whispered to Hannah, "We need to get out of here!" Right as I said that, I felt someone grab my arm. As I turn around, I hear an English accented voice say, "Excuse me."

It was Ian. He stared at me for several seconds. I looked down into his open jacket to see a revolver. I heard Hannah's hard breathing behind me. Then Ian cocked his head, and finally said, "Oh, I thought you were someone else. Sorry." He let go of my arm, but still stared at me as Hannah and I walked swiftly out of the building. My heart was beating out of my chest.

"I thought he was going to kill you!" Hannah said to me after we walked outside, "Did you see his gun?"

"Oh yeah!" I replied shakily, "I was just as nervous as you were."

"Do you think he recognized you from the Charlotte?"

I turned around and saw the curtains in one of the windows moving. "Oh yeah!" I said, "Either that or he must have seen us in the van after stealing the Declaration. We need to find Riley now!" We crossed the street, and it wasn't long before we found Riley.

"I've figured out where we need to go!" Riley said as we walked up to him.

"Good," I said, "cause we need to get out of here! Ian's here and he seemed to recognize me. He must have seen me in the van."

"Are you kidding me?" Riley asked gathering his stuff.

"No!" I replied.

"He even grabbed her and stared at her for a minute!" Hannah said.

"Then let's go!" Riley said grabbing his stuff, "He's got to have figured out that you're with us. We need to go before he starts following us."

So we headed off at a brisk pace. I had never been so shaky and nervous in my life. The fact that Ian knew that we were with Ben and Riley scared me. I wasn't just following Ben and Riley on a run for this treasure. I was on my own run, a run that has turned far more dangerous than I had anticipated. Finally, after a nice little jog, we made it to the store that Abigail and Ben were in.

"Hey," Riley said as we met Ben and Abigail at the register.

"Did you guys get it?"

"Oh yes, _I_ got it," Riley said. We rolled our eyes, as we had heard the entire trip of Riley's boasting about how he had figured out the clue. "'The vision to see the treasured past comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow.' Now 'Pass and Stow', of course, are referring to the-"

"Liberty Bell," Abigail and Ben said in unison.

"Why do you have to do that?" Riley whined.

"Well John Pass and John Stow hung the Liberty Bell," Abigail said.

"Even I remember that," Hannah chimed. Riley smirked.

"Well, what does the rest of this mean?" I asked.

"Wait," Ben said, "'The vision to see the treasured past' must refer to a way to read the map."

"I thought the cipher was the map," Riley said.

"No," Ben corrected, "the cipher was a way to find the way to read the map." Riley remained confused.

"And the way to read the map," Abigail continued, "can be found where the 'timely shadow' crosses in front of the Liberty Bell."

"Crosses in front of the house of the Liberty Bell. Independence Hall."

"Right. So timely shadow…it's a specific time."

"Right. What time?" Ben pondered for a minute. Then his face lit up and he said to Abigail, "Wait a minute, wait. You're gonna love this." He turned to the cashier and asked, "Excuse me, can I see one of those hundred-dollar bills I paid you with?"

The cashier looked confused and quickly said, "No."

"Oh. Well, here," Ben bribed, "I have this diver's watch. It's called a Submariner. I dive with it. It's actually quite valuable. You can use it as collateral."

"Whatever," the cashier sighed taking the watch.

"Thank you," Ben said. He turned to Abigail and explained, "On the back of a hundred-dollar bill is an etching of Independence Hall based on a painting done in-"

"Hello," said the cashier holding out the bill.

"Thank you," Ben continued facing the cashier, "…in the 1780's. The artist was actually a friend of Benjamin Franklin's. It's wonderful!"

"Fascinating," the cashier said very under enthused.

"Hold this," Ben said giving Abigail the container with the Declaration. He gave her a look and she smiled and said, "I'm not going anywhere." Ben grabbed a water bottle and looked at the bill through it and said, "Now, I think that if we look at this clock tower, we may find the specific time."

"What do you see?" Abigail asked.

"2:22"

"What time is it now?"

"Almost three," the cashier said looking at the watch.

"We missed it," Abigail sighed.

"No we didn't," Riley chimed in, "We didn't miss it because…you don't know this? I-I know something about history that you don't know."

"I'd be very excited to learn about it, Riley," Ben said.

"Well, hold on one second, let me just...let me just take in this moment. This is...this is cool. Is this how you feel all the time? Because, you know... Except for now, of course."

"Riley!" Abigail shouted.

"Alright!" Riley shouted back, "What I know is that daylight savings wasn't established until World War I. If it's 3pm now, ok, that means in 1776, it would be 2pm."

"Let's go!" Abigail said.

"Riley, you're a genius," Ben said as we walked out of the store.

"Yeah," Riley sighed in victory. Then he asked, "Do you actually know who the first person to suggest daylight savings was?"

"Benjamin Franklin," the rest of us said in unison. We then heard Riley quickly stomp his foot in defeat, and I laughed.

We walked outside the store, and made the thirty minute walk to Independence Hall. We got in, paid for a tour, and headed inside. We walked inside, split from the tour, and headed up to the bell tower. Two twenty. We finally got up to the bell, just in the nick of time. Ben checked his watch just to make sure, but then looked down to where the shadow indicated to go.

"There it is," Abigail said.

"Ok, I'm going to go down there," Ben instructed, "and you guys meet me in the signing room."

"Alright," Abigail said, "Let's go."

As we made our way back down the steeple, we heard Riley say, "Three twenty-two, my idea." I giggled as we headed to the signing room. About ten minutes later, Ben returned.

"Hey what did you score?" Riley asked.

"I found these," Ben said holding out the object, "Some kind of ocular device. A 'vision to see the treasured past'?" He handed the glasses to Riley, and grabbed the Declaration's container and walked over to the window.

"Aw, they're like early American x-ray specks," Riley said.

"Benjamin Franklin invented something like these," Abigail stated.

"Uh," Ben said from the window, "I think he invented these." Abigail raised her eyebrows as Ben brought over the Declaration.

"So what do we do with them?" Riley asked holding up the glasses.

"We look through it," Ben replied. "Help me," he said as we unrolled the Declaration. Then Ben just stopped and sighed.

"What?" Riley asked.

"It's just," Ben began, "the last time this was here, it was being signed." With Ben bringing it to light, I also shared in this surreal moment.

Then Riley had to ruin it by saying, "Ben, there's another tour coming."

"Turn it over," Ben replied.

"Careful," Abigail said.

"Spectacles," Ben instructed. Ben put them on, and began to stare at the page.

"What do you see?" asked Abigail.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Is it a treasure map?" Riley added.

"It says, 'Heere at the Wall,' spelled with two E's. Take a look." Abigail grabbed the glasses and put them on. "Wow," is all she could say.

"Why can't it just say 'Go to this place and here's the treasure, spend it wisely'?" Riley commented.

Ben looked out the window and said, "Oh no." We looked out the window as well and saw two of Ian's men walking outside. Riley ran up to the window and asked, "How did they find us?"

"Well, Ian has nearly unlimited resources," Ben said putting the Declaration away, "And he's smart."

"I don't think we'll get out of here without being spotted," Abigail commented.

"Well," Ben said, "we don't want them to have the Declaration or the glasses, but we especially don't want them to have them together."

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"We're separating the lock from the key," Ben said, "We're splitting up."

"Good idea," Abigail said.

"Really?" Riley asked.

"I'll take the Declaration's case," Ben said, "Riley go with Aviana, and you guys take the actual Declaration." We nodded as Ben turned to Hannah and Abigail and said, "You guys take the glasses."

"Ok," They replied.

"Meet me at the car," Ben said, "You guys call me if you have any problems."

"Like if we get caught and killed?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, that would be a big problem." He pulled Riley and Abigail away and said, "Take care of those girls, ok?"

"We will," they replied. I gulped and hugged Hannah as we followed Ben out of Independence Hall. "Be careful," I told her, and she nodded in reply.


	11. Chased in Philadelphia

**Chapter 10: Chased in Philadelphia**

Two of Ian's men immediately followed Ben as he walked out. Riley and I walked out next, in an opposite direction. I tried to walk as calmly as possible, but inside, I was shaking beyond belief.

"You ok?" Riley asked me.

"Yeah," I replied. "Just really scared." He gave me a quick side hug, which was interrupted by a "Look out!" from behind us. We turned around to see two of Ian's men (Shaw and Viktor) running after us. We turned back around and took off running as fast as we could. We got up to a small shopping center and ran in. Shortly afterward, I realized Riley was no longer with me. I noticed a deli, and I decided hiding was my best shot. I jumped behind the counter, curled up with the Declaration, closed my eyes and prayed.

"If you're not a steak, you don't belong here," A black woman said startling me.

"I'm just trying to hide from my ex-boyfriend," I said.

"Who, Baldy?"

"Yes."

The lady gave a disgusted face and said, "Honey, stay as long as you like!"

"Oh, thank you!"

A minute or two later, I heard the lady say, "Do you want something?" I turned around to see Shaw's pistol, and I turned back around and gripped the Declaration tighter. "Do you want something?" the lady asked again.

"Shut up," I heard Shaw say after a pause. I heard him walk away.

"I see why you broke up with him," the lady said looking back down at me. After a few more minutes, I crawled over to another stand not far away, this time a floral one. Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I screamed and whipped around to see who it was. Luckily, it was Riley, who promptly shushed me after my scream.

"Where were you?!" I asked franticly.

"Hiding!" He replied. "Let's go," he said as he grabbed my arm. We managed to sneak outside and we ran towards City Hall. It wasn't long until we caught sight of Shaw and Viktor chasing after us. We picked up speed, and gained some distance. As we approached a street, a small crowd turned a corner, and Riley got caught up with them. I turned around to see where he was, as I ran into a cyclist. I fell onto the sidewalk, the Declaration slipping out of my hand and on to the street. I ran into the street to grab it, without looking where I was going. I heard honking as a semi drove directly for me. I froze, unable to get my feet to move out of the way. However, Riley came behind me, grabbed me, and pulled me out of the path of the semi. We both fell back onto the sidewalk. We sat up, only to find Ian walking into the street. He picked up the Declaration's container, opened it up to make sure it was in there, and smiled. We heard Shaw yell from behind us, and we got up and ran. We heard Ian tell Shaw and Viktor to let us go, and then they walked away with the Declaration of Independence. We started walking, and as soon as we caught our breath, we called Ben.


	12. FBI Custody

**Chapter 11: FBI Custody**

"What?" Ben said answering the phone.

"We lost it," Riley said in reply.

"What?"

"We lost the Declaration. Ian took it."

There was a pause on the phone. Then Ben came back and said, "Yeah, ok. You all right? You both all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, we're all right," Riley said, "Ben I'm sorry."

"We'll be alright. Meet me at the car. I'll call Abigail and Hannah when you guys get here."

"Ok," Riley said hanging up. We walked towards the car. Since it was a little ways away, I took the moment to chat with Riley, calm my nerves some.

"So," I began, "thanks for pulling me out of the way of that semi."

"Oh no problem," Riley replied, "What else was I supposed to do? Let you get run over?"

"Well, I do appreciate you saving me," I said smiling. After a pause I asked, "So how did you get into this whole treasure hunting thing?"

"Well," Riley began, "Ben and I had met in college. He had gone back to school for a second degree, and was in his junior year for a second time when I began college. We just randomly met, and he was telling me all about this treasure. Me, being nineteen at the time, found this extremely intriguing. Since I was great at computers, and my degree was going to be in that field, he decided to keep me around. After Ben graduated with his second degree, if he wasn't on some treasure hunting expedition, he would come visit me while I finished college. After I graduated, he had me figure out where to find the Charlotte. When my calculations made sense, he decided to take me with him. Course, we had become pretty close friends by that point, so I think he would have taken me regardless." I smiled.

"The car should be on the other side of this corner," Riley said after observing where we were. We turned the corner, and froze when we saw the FBI arresting Ben. Ben caught sight of us as we turned and walked away. We got a little ways and called Abigail and Hannah.

"Hello?" Abigail answered.

"Hey, it's Aviana," I replied.

"What's up?"

"Can you guys meet us by that fountain over by Independence Hall?"

"Yeah sure," then Abigail's voice got concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Ben got arrested. He's in FBI custody." I heard Abigail gasp at the other end.

"Yeah, we'll meet you guys over by the fountain," Abigail said, her voice being shaky. Then she hung up. Riley and I were both silent walking to meet the other two. Riley didn't know what to do at that point. I did what came naturally to me. I prayed.

When we got to our meeting place, Abigail and Hannah were already there. I ran up to them and hugged them both tightly. Riley walked right pass us and plopped down on the bench. He was exhausted.

"How are you guys?" I asked Abigail and Hannah.

"We're alright," Hannah replied, "We didn't get chased too much. I guess since it was because we weren't carrying anything visible."

"Right," I replied.

"You ok, Riley?" Abigail asked.

"Well," Riley said in a choked voice, "Aviana and I were almost killed, we lost the Declaration of Independence, and my best friend is in FBI custody and is probably facing life imprisonment. So no, I'm not ok." He hung his head, and I sat down next to him and hugged him. He smiled and said, "Thanks Avi."

"No problem," I replied. "What was I supposed to do? Watch you sit here and cry?" Riley smiled and hugged me. I turned around to Abigail pacing back and forth, pondering about what to do next.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Abigail said, "Riley, do you know how to get in touch with Ian?"

Riley looked up puzzled and said, "Excuse me?"

"Ian can help us get Ben out of custody. It's illegal to get someone out of FBI custody, and Ian's a criminal. Do you think he'll help us?"

"If we offer him something of value, I'm sure he would. But the problem would be finding something we could give him to persuade him to help us."

Abigail thought some more. Then she asked, "What if we offer to let him have the treasure."

"Ben would kill us if we let Ian have the treasure," Riley replied

"We would just have to find some way to avoid actually giving the treasure to Ian."

"How?"

"Still working on that. But we need to get Ben out of custody now. Will you get a hold of Ian?"

Riley sat and thought for a minute. Finally he said, "Ok." He pulled out his cell phone, dialed Ian's number, and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello?" answered Ian.

"Hey Ian. It's Riley."

"Hello Riley. What brings you to call me?"

"We want to make a deal with you."

"Ok. What is it?"

"Ben is currently in FBI custody. We need him out so we can finish the search for the treasure. Will you help us get him out?"

"What's in it for me?"

Riley looked up at Abigail. She nodded and Riley turned back to the phone, "We'll let you have the treasure after we find it."

"Deal! Would you like me meet you so we can come up with a plan for this?"

"Umm, sure."

"Where would you like me to meet you?"

"How about the park with the fountain near Independence Hall? That's where we are now."

"Sounds good. We're headed there now. See you then." And Ian hung up. Now the four of us just sat and waited for Ian to arrive. We all sat and thought while we waited, thinking about a plan to get Ben out, a plan to avoid giving Ian the treasure, a plan to go back to normal lives after all of this.


	13. The Plan

**Chapter 12: The Plan**

About thirty minutes after the phone call, Ian and his men pulled up in their cars. Ian walked up to us and said, "I believe introductions are in order here."

"I'm Abigail. I'm the one who almost fell out of your van after Ben stole the Declaration."

"Oh yes," Ian said shaking Abigail's hand, "I remember you." He turned to Hannah and me and said, "And you two are the ones I saw in the van with Ben and Riley. What are your names?"

"I'm Aviana," I said shaking his hand, "and this is my best friend, Hannah."

"Nice to meet you," Ian said shaking Hannah's hand. "So let's get to planning."

"Do you have any ideas as to what to do?" Hannah asked.

"Well," Ian began, "believe it or not, I actually have been involved in some plans to get my men out of FBI custody. So I have some experience in this area."

"What is the best way to go about this?" Abigail asked.

"Well, before I would just go a more direct route by breaking them out of prison or something like that. However this time, I have a safer approach. Since I have the Declaration and the pipe from the Charlotte, I can call Ben, and have him meet me at the USS Intrepid in New York. We'll have Ben somehow get to a place where he can jump off of the ship, and I'll have one of my men meet him underwater with an air tank. He has a diving degree, so that shouldn't be a problem for him. Then we will bring him back to someplace in New York."

"How will we relay this plan to Ben?" Abigail asked, "We couldn't tell him over the phone since the FBI would be listening in, and I'm sure they'd have a mike on him when he meets you."

"We have a device that can temporarily interfere with Ben's mike. We'll tell him what to do, then we'll disable the device."

"That sounds like it should work," Abigail said.

"Now, where does that clue you found at Independence Hall lead us?"

"Actually, it does lead us to New York," Abigail said.

"Where exactly in New York?"

"At the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway."

"Alright. I'll drop you two off there, go get Ben, and come back over there. Ok?"

"Deal," we all said.

"Well, the four of you hop in Phil's car. Viktor and McGregor have to head back to D.C. to pick up something for me, but will be back in time to meet Ben with me. And Shaw and I will ride together and call Ben on the ride to New York."

"Okie dokie," I replied while piling into the car. Abigail sat upfront, while I was in between Riley and Hannah in the back. I talked to Riley some more on the ride to New York. Occasionally, Abigail would turn around and talk to us too. It was late by the time we got to New York, so Phil drove the car to a secure location, and parked it and we slept in the car that night. I enjoyed the opportunity to catch up on some much needed rest. That is, when I wasn't awakened by Riley or Hannah's head falling onto my shoulder. I'm sure I looked like a sleep deprived cartoon with out of control hair and blood shot eyes by the time morning came. At around seven, Phil dropped us off at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway. We found an internet café with a view of the intersection, and Riley went in and got some things set up so we could make sure Ian didn't try to go against his word. Then we just sat and waited for the time Ben was expected to be on his way.


	14. Trinity Church

**Chapter 13: Trinity Church**

At around noon, Abigail suggested that it would be ok to call Ben. She dialed Shaw's phone, since she knew Ben wouldn't have his.

"Yeah hello?" Shaw answered.

"Hey, is Ben there?" Abigail replied. There was a muffled "It's for you," coming from Shaw.

"Hello?" Ben said. Riley, Hannah, and I sighed in relief to hear Ben's voice.

"Hi, sweetie," Abigail said, "How's your day going?"

"Uh, interesting dear," Ben replied, "So what, are you working with Ian now?"

"It turns out that helping someone escape from FBI custody is a criminal act, and he's the only criminal we knew. So we called him and made a deal."

"Well…you're alright, yeah? I mean you're safe?"

"Yeah, we all are." Abigail turned to Riley and said, "Riley's right here doing something clever with a computer."

"I'm tracking him through the…Hey!" Riley said as Abigail put the phone up to his ear, "I'm tracking you through the GPS in Shaw's phone. They take a turn anywhere we don't want, we'll know it. So don't worry."

"If Ian tried to double cross us," Abigail began, "we can call the FBI and tell them right where you are, and where to find Ian."

"And where's that?" Ben asked.

"Right across the street from where we're hiding. At the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway."

"Well, you figured out the clue."

"Simple. 'Heere at the Wall', Wall Street and Broadway." Abigail paused, "Ben there is a catch. We made Ian believe he could have the treasure. It's the only way we could get this far."

"He's here!" Riley said. We all looked out to the window and watched as Ben and Ian's men came out of the car. "Here we go," Riley said. Ben walked over to Ian and his car, and we watched them converse. Ian gave Ben the Declaration and the pipe from the Charlotte. Then Ben started to walk away, and Ian stopped him. We became worried. They talked some more, and then Ian looked over at Viktor, who was standing by his car. Viktor opened the car door, and inside was Mr. Patrick. Ben gave a look of despair, and told Ian something, then they headed toward Trinity Church. As Viktor untied Mr. Patrick, and herded him toward the church, we heard the door to the café open. "Dr. Chase, Poole, and you two girls, come with me now," we heard a voice say from behind us. It was Phil, with his pistol in his hand. We followed him out, our lives depending on it. We were herded into the church, then sat in one of the pews in the back. As we sat down, we heard Ian say, "Let's have a look at that map." Ben and Ian sat down with the Declaration and the glasses, and looked at the map again.

"It's…" Ben said, "it's really quite something." He took off the glasses, handed them to Ian and said, "It really is remarkable. Take a look."

Ian put on the glasses and looked. "'Parkington Lane,'" Ian read.

"Beneath Parkington Lane," Ben corrected

"Why would the map lead us here then take us somewhere else?" Ian asked. "What's the purpose?"

"Just another clue," Mr. Patrick commented.

"Dad," Ben reprimanded. Mr. Patrick just nodded in disgust. Then Ben turned back around and said, "No, you're right. Parkington Lane has to be around here somewhere."

"A street inside the church?" Ian thought aloud.

"Not inside," Ben corrected. "Beneath. Beneath the church." Ben mentioned the catacombs underneath the church where a lot of men were buried. With that information, Ian's men got us up, and we all searched for a door that could lead to the cellar of the church. Finding one, we all were sent in. Ben sat at the door's entrance and waited for everyone to get in before entering.

Abigail turned around instead of going down the staircase and said, "I'm so sorry, Ben."

"None of this is your fault," Ben replied. He began to say something else, but Phil pushed Abigail through the door before he had the chance.


	15. The Catacombs

**Chapter 14: The Catacombs**

We walked down to the catacombs. In there were some strange equipment, along with the graves. These graves could very easily have been from the time of the Revolutionary War. We began to look around for any sign of this Parkington Lane. I turned around to see Ben talking to his dad about something.

"Hey! Par…Hey, I found it!" Riley exclaimed pointing at a grave stone. "Him."

"Ben!" Ian called. "It's a name."

"Parkington Lane," Ben said observing the grave marker. "He was a third-degree master mason of the Blue Lo- Hey!" Ben shouted as Viktor came with a large wrench and broke the marker to reveal the coffin. All the guys (Riley excluded) grabbed the coffin and began to lower it to the ground. Suddenly, the bottom of the coffin broke open, and the remains of the body fell to the floor. That was startling and slightly sickening.

"Careful no one steps in him," McGregor said. They set the coffin on top of the body, and shined a flashlight into the tomb.

"Ok," Riley said, "who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?"

"Right," Ian said. He turned to his men, "Viktor, Phil, you stay here. And if anyone should come out without me…well, use your imagination." He turned to Ben, "Shall we?" Then, with Ben leading the way, the rest of us climbed into the tunnel. We got to the end where there was a hallway. A torch was on the side of the wall, and Ben carried that once it was lit. We walked down this hallway, and came to a point where there was a more difficult step. Ben stepped to the side, and helped everyone through this passage. He grabbed my hand as I walked through, followed by Riley who grabbed Ben's shoulder. When Abigail came by, she began to walk pass Ben, as he grabbed her arm and said, "Come here." He pulled her close and kissed her. She looked back at him, and smiled as she walked away.

"Why does that never happen to me?" McGregor asked as he came through.

We continued down this hallway. Finally we got to a wooden ledge. "What's this?" Ian asked as we waited for Ben to bring the torch. Ben discovered a large chandelier, and he lit it with the torch. He lowered it to discover a shaft, along with a system of elevators.

"A dumbwaiter system," Mr. Patrick stated.

"How do a bunch of guys with hand tools build all this?" McGregor asked.

"The same way they built the pyramids," Ben answered, "and the Great Wall of China."

"Yeah, the aliens helped them," Riley said sarcastically.

"Right," Ian said, "let's go. What are we waiting for?"

"I'm not going out on that thing," Mr. Patrick said. "Two hundred years of termite damage and rot."

"Dad, do what he says," Ben instructed. Mr. Patrick reluctantly began to walk out on the shaft, leading to one of the elevators. "Watch your step," he said as he got to a gap in the wood.

"We're under the Trinity graveyard," Mr. Patrick said. "That's probably why no one ever found this." Suddenly, the entire place began to shake, and dirt began to fall.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Subway," Ian replied after the shaking had stopped. Ben nodded in agreement. We began to start walking again. Suddenly, we heard the cracking and snapping of wood. We turned to see that Shaw had fallen through the gap in the planks, and he continued to fall down into the bottomless pit that was at the center of all of this. "Shaw!" Ian yelled, "Oh, God, Shaw!"

"Oh my gosh," Abigail gasped. Then suddenly, our entire section of the shaft began to crumble. It was a mad dash to try and get on one of the elevators. Riley leaped from where he was, to a more secure location of the shaft. Hannah, McGregor, and I leaped to the elevator in front of us. We were shortly followed by Mr. Patrick. Meanwhile, Ben began to slip down to the bottom of a set of stairs, which had broken off from the shaft, and was pointing straight towards the pit. Abigail reached for him.

"Grab my hand!" she yelled. She pulled Ben up to safety, and they climbed onto an elevator, as Ian jumped onto ours. Ben reached the Declaration out to Riley as Ben and Abigail's elevator broke, and they began to fall. Luckily, the rope caught the elevator, but the bottom of the elevator broke from the top, creating a slope that pointed straight down into the pit.

"Get down there, get down there!" Mr. Patrick yelled.

Abigail began to tumble down the slope, and Ben grabbed her hand, their elevator swinging back and forth. The Declaration began to roll to the edge of the elevator.

"The Declaration!" Abigail gasped.

"Do you trust me?" Ben asked.

"Yes," Abigail replied. And as she said that, the elevator swung to where it was over the shaft. Ben dropped Abigail onto the wood and turned to grab the Declaration. He put the case over his shoulder, and looked back at Abigail to make sure she had landed safely. Then, the elevator's bottom broke even more, throwing Ben to the bottom plank. "Oh no, Ben!" Abigail yelled. Ben tried to climb back up, but the next plank broke off. "Hang on!" Abigail shouted again. As Ben hung onto that bottom plank for dear life, the wood started to slip through the nails. Ben looked hopeless. Hannah then found a rope that Ian and Mr. Patrick threw down to Ben. "Son!" Mr. Patrick yelled. Ben grabbed hold of the rope, and swung over to safety.

"I'm sorry," Ben said walking up to Abigail, "I'm sorry I dropped you. I had to save the Declaration."

"No, don't be," Abigail said, "I would have done the exact same thing to you."

"Really?" Ben asked. Abigail nodded.

"I would have dropped you both," Riley said walking down toward them. "Freaks." We lowered our elevator down to Abigail, Ben, and Riley.

"Get on," Ian commanded when we got down to them.

"Ian, it's not worth it," Ben said.

"Do you imagine any one of your lives is more valuable to me than Shaw's?" Ian asked. "We go on."

"The status quo," Mr. Patrick said. "Keep the status quo." Ben, Riley, and Abigail climbed on to the elevator, and we continued to lower it. Finally, we found a small room, with a post in front. Ben threw a rope at the post, and drew us near enough to safely climb off the elevator.

"Now what?" Hannah asked.

"This is where it all leads," Mr. Patrick said.

Ben secured the rope and said, "Ok, let's go." He grabbed the torch, and led the way into the room. We began to walk around the room, trying to find some clue to the treasure.

"What is this?" Riley asked.

"So where is the treasure?" McGregor asked after a short pause. Ben ignored him.

"Well?" Ian asked impatiently.

"This is it?" Riley asked almost angrily. "We came all this way for a dead end?!"

"Yes," Ben said disappointedly. Ian chuckled in disbelief.

"There's got to be something more," Riley said.

"Riley," Ben replied, "there is nothing more."

"Another clue, or…"

"No, there are no more clues!" Ben yelled, frustrated. "That's it, ok? It's over! End of the road. The treasure's gone. Moved. Taken somewhere else."

"You're not playing games with me, are you, Ben?" Ian asked. "You know where it is."

"No," Ben blankly stated.

"Ok," Ian motioned to McGregor, "go." They began to make their way toward the elevator.


	16. Betrayed!

**Chapter 15: Betrayed!**

"Hey, wait a minute," Ben said starting after them.

"Hey, Ian, wait!" Riley added.

"Wait!" Abigail, Hannah, and I said.

"We'll be trapped!" Riley said.

"Don't do this!" Ben said.

"You can't just leave us here!" Abigail said as they began to raise the elevator.

"Yes I can," Ian said. "Unless Ben tells me the next clue."

"There isn't another clue," Ben stated.

"Ian," Riley began, "why don't you come back down here and we can talk through this together?"

Ian turned around, grabbed his gun, pointed it at Riley and said, "Don't speak again."

"Ok," Riley said; his voice almost shaky.

"The clue," Ian said turning the gun toward Ben, "Where is the treasure?" After a pause, he said, "Ben?" With no reply from Ben, he released the safety.

"The lantern," Mr. Patrick said to save Ben.

"Dad," Ben said.

"The status quo has changed, son."

"Don't."

"It's a part of freemason teachings," Mr. Patrick continued anyway. "In King Solomon's temple there was a winding staircase. It signified the journey that had to be made to find the light of truth. The lantern is the clue."

"What does it mean?" Ian asked.

"Boston," Ben replied. "It's Boston."

"The Old North Church in Boston," Mr. Patrick continued, "where Thomas Newton hung a lantern in the steeple, to signal Paul Revere that the British were coming. One if by land, two if by sea. One lantern. Under the winding staircase of the steeple, that's where we have to look."

"Thank you," Ian said as he began to raise the elevator again.

"Hey!" Mr. Patrick said. "You have to take us with you!"

"Why?" Ian asked. "So you can escape in Boston? Besides, with you out of the picture there's less baggage to carry."

"What if we lied?" Mr. Patrick asked.

"Did you?" Ian asked raising his gun again.

"What if there's another clue?" Ben asked.

"Then I'll know right where to find you," Ian stated. "See you, Ben." And they raised the elevator.

"No!" Ben shouted.

"Come back!" Abigail and Hannah shouted.

"There's no other way out!" Riley shakily said.

"You're gonna need us, Ian!" Mr. Patrick said. Ian ignored gave an evil chuckle, and continued to rise to the top.


	17. Gone Or Is It?

**Chapter 16: Gone…Or Is It?**

Riley looked down and said, "We're all gonna die."

"It's going to be ok, Riley," Ben said. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." He turned to Hannah and I and said, "And I'm sorry I dragged you two into all of this mess. Put your lives in danger and all."

Hannah shook her head, "No, we dragged ourselves into this." I sat confused.

"What is it?" Ben asked me.

"What's going on?" I asked. "The British came by sea. It was two lanterns, not one."

"Ian needed another clue," Mr. Patrick said looking for a clue in the room, "so we gave it to him."

"It was fake," Riley said. "It was a fake clue." I nodded, smiling at Mr. Patrick's cleverness. After thinking, Riley continued, "That means…by the time Ian figures it out and comes back here, we'll still be trapped, and he'll shoot us then. Either way, we're gonna die."

Ben looked up from one of the faded paintings on the wall and said, "Nobody's going to die. There's another way out."

"Where?" Hannah and I asked in unison.

"Through the treasure room," Ben said. He turned back and pushed some button that gave way to a door in the wall. "Here," he said as he handed the torch to a smiling Riley. Mr. Patrick came and helped him open the door. They walked through to find a mostly empty room. It almost appeared that the treasure was there at one point.

"Looks like someone got here first," Riley said somberly after observing the room.

"I'm sorry Ben," Abigail said.

"It's gone," Ben said in a disbelieving and disappointed tone.

"Listen, Ben…" Mr. Patrick began.

"It may have even been gone," Ben interrupted, "before Charles Carroll told the story to Thomas Gates."

"It doesn't matter," Mr. Patrick said.

"I know," Ben admitted, "Cause you were right."

"No, I wasn't right," Mr. Patrick began. "This room is real, Ben. And that means the treasure is real. We're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history, because you found what they left behind for us to find and understood the meaning of it. You did it, Ben. For all of us. Your grandfather, and all of us. And I've never been so happy to be proven wrong."

"I just," Ben started, "I really thought I was going to find the treasure."

"Ok," Mr. Patrick said. "Then we just keep looking for it."

"I'm in," Abigail said.

"Me too," I said.

"Me three," Hannah added.

"Ok," Ben agreed.

"Not to be Johnny Raincloud here," Riley said, "but that's not gonna happen. Because as far as I can see, we're still trapped down here."

"True," I said.

"Now, Ben, where is this other way out?" asked Riley.

"Well, that's it," Ben explained. "It doesn't make any sense, because the first thing the builders would have done after getting down here was cut a secondary shaft back out for air..."

"Right," Mr. Patrick interrupted.

"...and in case of cave-ins," Ben finished. Ben walked over to one place with four circles were. One of them had groves in it where you could possibly put something. Ben felt these groves, thought for a moment, and then said, "Could it really be that simple?" He pulled out the pipe from the ship and said, "'The secret lies with Charlotte.'" He put each piece of the pipe in its respective groove, and he turned the circle to where it was upside down, and pushed it in. There was a gust of wind as an entrance opened up in the wall. We all headed into this opening. There was a sharp curve that lead into a large room. Inside this room was…the _treasure_! Everything from Egyptian statues and scrolls, to golden pendants and coins, to Chinese artifacts. We all began to explore. Abigail and I found the scrolls from the ancient library at Alexandria. I turned around to see Riley hugging the statue of an Egyptian pharaoh.

"He's probably asking that pharaoh to let him and his team go," I said to Hannah, who laughed in return. We looked over at Ben, who was investigating some bowl that seemed to be filled with something. He put his torch on it, and it revealed a fire trough that spread throughout the rest of the room. We all came over to a railing, and watched as the trough lit up a seemingly endless trove of treasure. Mr. Patrick grabbed Ben's shoulder, and shouted ,"Yes!" Hannah and Abigail high-fived.

I looked over at Riley and asked, "Riley are you crying?"

"Look," he said choked, "stairs." Ben looked up at them, and we made our way through the maze of treasure to the stairs that we hoped would lead us back out to the church cellar. Ben lead the way, and was confronted by another coffin. This time, we were successful in not spilling the body onto the floor, and we crawled through the tunnel. Ben broke open the tomb to find one of the church pastors, investigating what in the world happened to his cellar.

"Hi," Ben greeted him. "Do you happen to have a cell phone I could borrow?"


	18. Bribe Arrest and Conclusion

**Chapter 17: Bribe, Arrest, and Conclusion**

Turns out, the pastor did indeed have a cell phone, and Ben called the head FBI agent, Agent Sadusky. We waited in the sanctuary while Ben called the FBI. About five minutes later, they arrived. Agent Sadusky walked over to Ben, who was sitting on the stage steps with the Declaration. Two other agents sat in the pew behind the rest of us. Ben stood up, and handed the Declaration to Sadusky.

"Just like that?" Sadusky asked.

"Just like that," Ben replied.

"You do know you just handed me your biggest bargaining chip?"

"The Declaration of Independence is not a bargaining chip. Not to me."

"Have a seat," Sadusky said as they sat down on the steps. "So what's your offer?"

"How about a bribe?" Ben asked , "Say…ten billion dollars?"

"I take it you found the treasure."

"It's about five stories beneath your shoes." There was silence for a minute.

"You know," Sadusky began revealing a ring on his pinky, "the Templars and the Freemasons believed that the treasure was too great for any one man to have, not even a king. That's why they went to such lengths to keep it hidden."

"That's right," Ben said as he looked down at the ring. On the ring was a Templar symbol, revealing that Agent Sadusky was a part of the Freemasons. Ben smiled. Ben went on to say, "The Founding Fathers believed the same thing about government. I figure their solution will work for the treasure too."

"Give it to the people," Sadusky confirmed.

"Divide it amongst the Smithsonian, the Louvre, the Cairo museum." Ben paused, turned to Sadusky and said, "There's thousands of years of world history down there. And it belongs to the world, and everybody in it."

"You really don't understand the concept of a bargaining chip," Sadusky said. Ben smiled.

"Ok, here's what I want," Ben began. "Dr. Chase gets off completely clean, not even a little Post-it on her service record."

"Ok," Sadusky agreed.

"I want the credit for the find to go to the entire Gates family, with the assistance of Mr. Riley Poole, Ms. Aviana Jennison, and Ms. Hannah Rose." We all smiled at that.

"What about you?" Sadusky asked.

"I'd really love not to go to prison," Ben said. "I can't even begin to describe how much I would love not to go to prison."

Sadusky laughed, "Someone's got to go to prison, Ben."

"Well, if you've got a helicopter, I think I can help with that." Sadusky cocked his head as Ben continued, "We tricked Ian and his men to go to the Old North Church in Boston to avoid him shooting us. If we can get there by tonight, you guys should be able to catch him and arrest him."

"Well," Sadusky said, "if we can catch him, we won't put you in prison."

"Well, let's go then!" Riley said jumping up. We all got in the FBI vehicles and headed to Boston. We got there by seven o'clock that night, and the sun had begun to set. The agents waited in the FBI vehicles. We watched from a dark porch directly across the street from the church. About eleven o'clock that night, Ian and his men arrive. They broke the lock on the gate, and as they tried to unlock the door to the church, all the agents jumped out from their hiding places, guns aimed at Ian and his men. Seeing that their hands were up, the agents moved in, handcuffing Ian and all of his men.

Sadusky walked up to Ian and said, "You're under arrest, Mr. Howe. We've got you on kidnapping, attempted murder, and trespassing on government property." Ian looked up at the porch, to see Ben and the rest of us looking at him. He chuckled in disbelief, and Ben shrugged his shoulders.

Once Ian and his men were safely in FBI custody, we all began to make our way back to D.C. As crews headed to New York to secure the treasure, the finder's fee was discussed in D.C. Though Ben was offered a ten percent finding fee (which would go to the rest of us as well), he settled on a one percent fee for each of us; as he felt ten percent was too great.

One percent wasn't all that bad though, you can do a lot with one hundred million dollars. Ben and Abigail began a romantic relationship, and bought a mansion in Southern Maryland. Riley bought himself a Ferrari. Hannah moved back to her childhood town in Tennessee. I, after paying tithes, of course, bought my very first house. Having a ton of money, I got my dream house in my hometown of Bryantown, Maryland. To top it off, it was a thirty minute drive from Ben and Abigail's mansion. I also bought myself a car, my first dogs since moving from Alaska, and settled in. I went back to school, striving for the degrees needed so I could work alongside Abigail at her new job at the Library of Congress. And that's how things have been until…


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Present Day_

"Hey, she forgot the best part, Chloe!" Riley said walking into Chloe's bedroom. "The part where I used part of my finder's fee to buy your mother her engagement ring. And we both put in some money and had the most amazing wedding. Then found the City of Gold and had you."

"The City of Gold?" asked Chloe.

"That," I said as I gave Riley a you-know-better-than-that look, "is a story for another time."

"Fine!" Chloe said reluctantly.

"Good night Chloe," Riley and I said in unison.

"Good night, Mom. Good night, Dad." And with that, we walked out of her room and closed the door.

"Seriously though," Riley began as we walked down the stairs to our bedroom, "meeting and marrying you was the best part of the entire treasure hunt. I found the most amazing treasure ever."

"Well that's very sweet, Riley," I replied, "but we both know your favorite part was getting that Ferrari of yours."

"No it wasn't."

"Yes it was."

"Ok," Riley admitted, "it was a very close second." I laughed as we went into our room and went to bed.


End file.
